MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $649.23.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

MSCI Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $575.38 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $581.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.84. The stock has a market cap of $44.68 billion, a PE ratio of 40.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 176.2% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,795,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.